Learning How to Breathe
by Skylark Sky
Summary: Nero hated Dante when they first met. So how was it that now, 10 months later, she was living with him? As if that wasn't bad enough, she now had to put up with his constant flirting, and her own growing desire for the older hunter. Will she suffocate under all the tension? DantexNero Fem!Nero
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer:

I do not own any Dante, Nero, or any other characters of the Devil May Cry series. These characters are the property of Capcom. I do not garner any profit from this work of fiction, save the personal profit of self-satisfaction.

* * *

Nero walked in the door to Devil May Cry after a demanding mission.

Giving a grunt in greeting to Dante who was sitting at his desk as usual, reading a magazine, she briskly began to make her way upstairs, attempting to avoid having the elder hunter see what had happened to her clothes.

One of her pant legs had been ripped off, leaving the creamy white skin below the leather straps exposed. Her wild silver hair was stained with some stray demons blood, and was even messier than usual. The zipper of her red hoodie had been torn open, the metal bent and broken so that the two halves no longer closed properly. The black shirt underneath had been completely ruined, so she had discarded it long ago. Using her left hand to grip the two sides of the broken zipper together, she removed Red Queen from its holster, hanging it on its designated wall rack, quickly repeating the actions for Blue Rose.

Just as she was sure she was home free, Dante finally put down his magazine and looked up.

"That's a good look on you kid." He said sarcastically.

"Fuck off old man. It's none of your goddamned business." Nero quipped from the bottom of the stairs.

Dante rose from his seat and Nero flinched. Even though the older half devil was generally gentler towards the fairer sex, this mostly only applied towards human women.

Dante wasn't afraid to put Nero in her place. If anything, he looked forward to their little spats. He knew she could take it.

He also knew that if he were to go easy on her, she would be insulted and offended.

But he wasn't actually angry with her right now; he just wanted to mess with her pretty little head. He relished being able to so easily infuriate the silver haired girl.

He approached her slowly, making his aura as menacing as possible.

"Were you talking to me?" He questioned, his eyebrow raised.

He finally reached her and began to surreptitiously check her for wounds.

"Because I could have sworn we had a _'talk'_ last week about showing respect towards those older than you, not to mention your boss." Dante said.

Nero cringed.

She remembered that _'talk'_. She had walked with a limp for several days afterwards due to Dante dislocating her knee. She had also had to repair the wall he threw her through.

She attempted to get into a defensive stance, when suddenly Dante reached out, grabbed her hands, and yanked her left away from her chest.

The traitorous hoodie fell open, exposing her bra to her boss.

Dante glanced over the newly exposed flesh, noting the pinkish-red, still slowly healing, claw marks marring the milky whiteness of her skin.

"What the fuck do you think you're doing old man?" Nero yelled in embarrassment as she attempted to pull her arms back to cover up. But Dante was too strong, and refused to let her go.

Dante finished scanning her torso, and once he was satisfied she would be able to heal quickly, he took in the lovely sight before him.

Nero's choice in lingerie was a bit risqué. The black lace was partially see-through, giving Dante a great view of her ample cleavage. The fabric on the left side was slightly torn by whatever had managed to land a hit on his employee, leaving a slit dangerously close to her nipple, a small flash of rosy pink at the edge.

Dante's mouth went dry.

Nero stood there, mortified as her boss openly stared at her revealed chest.

Suddenly Nero remembered that she didn't just have arms, but legs as well. So she jumped up and extended her legs towards Dante's chest, kicking him away from her, and forcing him to let go of her wrists.

Before he could recover, Nero had already fled to her room and locked the door.

"Damn Nero." Dante started softly. "I didn't know you were hiding _that_ under that baggy hoodie."

Dante had never seen Nero in anything remotely revealing. The girl had been raised in Fortuna where almost no one wore anything more revealing than a knee length skirt. And even then, they almost always wore stockings of some kind underneath. Despite the fact that Nero had basically been a complete rebel against the teachings of The Order, she still was very innocent in some regards.

Dante would bet his trademark red leather coat that she was still a virgin.


	2. Chapter 2

Disclaimer:

I do not own any Dante, Nero, or any other characters of the Devil May Cry series. These characters are the property of Capcom. I do not garner any profit from this work of fiction, save the personal profit of self-satisfaction.

* * *

Nero slid down the back of her bedroom door, blushing furiously.

The old man had seen her practically naked!

She cursed the Faust that had snuck up on her and torn open her clothes. If only those bastards were more noticeable!

Nero rubbed her face in her hands, trying to get all the blood to stop rushing to the surface of her skin.

She failed miserably.

Suddenly remembering that she shouldn't be hiding in her room like a little girl, she instead stripped off her blue overcoat and the ruined hoodie and threw them on her bed. Then she rushed to her dresser and slipped into a new black shirt, not bothering to change her slightly torn bra, or her pants.

She turned towards her door, and scowled as she exited, stomping her boots on her way back down the stairs.

* * *

As soon as he had heard her heavy footfalls, Dante had looked up from where he had sat down.

He watched as Nero marched down the stairs, clad in a new t-shirt, and turned her head to glare at him with her icy blue eyes.

As soon as her feet left the bottom stair, she reached over to Blue Rose and took it from its resting place. As she quickly aimed at Dante, she removed the safety, and fired two bullets straight at the hunters' head.

Dante's head lolled back as the bullets reached him, and his neck cracked with force.

"Gee, tell me how you really feel Nero." The hunter deadpanned as he looked at the wall behind him, where Nero's bullets had buried themselves deep into the wooden material.

"Shut up." Growled Nero as she fired off another round at Dante's torso.

Dante rolled out of his seat, trying to avoid being shot by the pissed off woman in his shop.

The bullets embedded themselves in his desk chair, and Dante mourned the death of his beloved chair, but didn't let it distract him from dodging the next set of bullets aimed at his head again.

"Just go fucking die!" The flustered girl snapped at her boss.

Dante knew that Nero needed to reload, and taking advantage of her current lack of firepower, launched himself at her from across the room.

Tackling her onto the floor by her waist, Dante pressed his entire weight onto her smaller form.

Nero hit the ground on her back and the fresh set of bullets for Blue Rose scattered onto the floor around the two hunters.

Groaning in frustration, she attempted to shove the man on top of her off, but was thwarted by Dante rising up and flinging her to the other side of the room.

She reached for Blue Rose, but realized she had dropped the custom made gun when she had been tackled, and it was currently lying on the ground next to Dante's right foot.

So instead she punched out with her right arm, using the Devil Bringer to buster punch Dante in the face, sending him reeling back into the wall again.

Unfortunately for her, this was also the wall where she kept Red Queen, and where Dante kept Rebellion.

Realizing her mistake, Nero lunged for Dante, attempting to prevent the half-demon from gaining his sword. Yet she wasn't quick enough, and was soon dodging a broad swipe from the deadly weapon.

The tip of Rebellion caught on her shirt, tearing a large rip in the newly replaced fabric.

Nero cursed her terrible luck today. She just couldn't seem to win no matter what.

While Nero was distracted with her shirt, Dante carefully edged closer to the volatile female and managed to catch her off guard.

He wrapped one of his arms around her slim waist, and grabbed hold of her Devil Bringer with his other hand.

Nero attempted to kick him, but he hindered her attempts by sliding around her until he was behind her and entangled his legs with hers.

With the Devil Bringer now painfully twisted behind her back, Nero only had her left arm free. And it was currently attempting to punch the infuriating man behind her.

Dante dodged every time the flailing limb swiped at him, but was unable to prevent himself from falling due to their tangled legs.

He fell on top of Nero, who froze as soon as they hit the floor in a pile of limbs.

* * *

Nero realized the compromising position she was in when a certain part of Dante's anatomy rubbed against her corresponding area. The friction caused her breath to catch in her throat, and blood to rush to her face.

In that instant she could feel all the pressure his body was making on hers.

The feel of his arm sliding on her waist, of his chest pressing against her back, the hand encircling her right wrist, his legs keeping hers pinned down, and his hips bearing down on hers.

All these stimulations had her mind going into overdrive, and in just a few short seconds she was inexplicably panting for air even though there was plenty of room for her to breathe normally.

She couldn't explain it. There was a strange feeling in her lower stomach, and it was just the right amount of painful to be pleasurable. It ached and she found she had the urge to be touched more by the man on top of her.

Dante had noticed her sudden stillness, and observed the girl under him. She had suddenly begun to pant, and to be honest the face she was making was turning him on.

He moved the arm pinned underneath their bodies, and as his hand brushed against the underside of Nero's breasts, she let out a low _moan_.

He realized what was happening then.

* * *

Nero was mortified by the sound that had just come out of her throat. She now knew what was going on, and the thought of it humiliated her.

She was getting aroused.

It's not like she didn't know what sex was. She had been given the _'talk'_ as soon as she had her first period.

However she had never been aroused before. No one in Fortuna had ever been interested in pursuing her, and she had never been attracted to anyone there.

She had never had any curiosity about her own body, even though sometimes at night she would hear moans, similar to the one she had just released, coming from other rooms in the dormitory she had lived in.

* * *

Meanwhile, Dante had completely freed his right hand, and continued to observe Nero, as she remained completely frozen in her thoughts. He decided to do some thinking of his own.

Nero had shown up at his shop 7 months ago, asking if he would consider hiring her at least part-time.

After The Savior incident, the majority of the population of Fortuna had abandoned the city. The only ones to remain were those who were loyal to The Order of the Sword.

After making sure there were no demons left in the city or the surrounding areas, Nero had made sure to destroy any information pertaining to demons left in The Order's information archives. She had also gathered any devil arms The Order had managed to collect. She sealed up the entrance to the underground lab at Fortuna Castle, and erased all traces of the hell gates.

Then she joined up with Kyrie who had decided to go to college and earn a degree. In order to support her decision, Nero had decided to get a job to help with costs. However, with her arm the way it was, it would be very hard to find someone willing to hire her. Hence, why she had come to see Dante first.

He had felt for the kid, and agreed to hire her part-time.

Then 1 month later, Kyrie had started a relationship with a man named William Shuster, and 5 months after that, he had proposed and the two had decided to move in together.

Nero had moved into the shop a week later.

And that was how Nero had come to be living with him. Over the past month he had learned many things about the girl now squirming beneath him.

For example: she hated blueberries, loved bananas, liked to read mystery novels in her spare time, and she had a soft spot for big dogs.

He flirted with her just as he did every woman he knew, but had never really been serious in his advances.

Maybe it was time to change that.

* * *

Nero writhed beneath the weight of Dante. Attempting to escape the half-devil's clutches.

Managing to free her left arm, she swiftly punched his face with all the force she could muster in her current position.

This caused her right arm to slip free of his hold, and she quickly used the demon arm to rise up, throwing Dante off her back.

Not willing to face the Devil hunter again, she fled to her room once more.

Dante looked after her, a thoughtful expression on his usually carefree face.


	3. Chapter 3

Disclaimer:

I do not own any Dante, Nero, or any other characters of the Devil May Cry series. These characters are the property of Capcom. I do not garner any profit from this work of fiction, save the personal profit of self-satisfaction.

* * *

Nero felt ashamed.

She couldn't believe she would react in that way to _Dante_ of all people.

Even now she could feel his rough fingers on her skin. Her hips ached, and she continued to pant like she had just run a marathon.

She needed to get out of here. She couldn't be in the same building as _him_ right now.

So she changed into a new pair of pants, forgoing the leather buckles, and put on a fresh bra, vowing to burn her old one later.

Putting on a white t-shirt, she grabbed her blue overcoat, threw it on, and snuck out her window.

Somehow she felt like she was back in Fortuna, sneaking out of the dormitory to train. That was before she had proven herself to The Order in combat.

She walked steadily away from the building that housed her current object of frustration.

Before she reached the main road, she expertly wrapped her Devil Bringer in black athletic tape, and rolled down her coat sleeves.

Then she remembered there was still some demon blood in her hair, and she groaned. She couldn't just put up her hood like she normally would; the piece of clothing was currently at the shop, lying broken on her bedroom floor. She also couldn't let civilians see her like this, they would more than likely stare and possibly call the cops, and she didn't feel like tangling with _that_ nest of vipers right now.

She would have to stick to alleys for now. At least until she found some way to at least rinse her hair.

She wandered along without a purpose, just letting her feet carry her along.

She walked past dumpsters and trash, and the occasional stain of questionable origin. She only crossed roads when she absolutely had to, and she made sure they were clear first.

It was after twenty minutes aimless walking that she suddenly sensed a demonic presence nearby.

The demon was closer than she would have liked, and she wondered how it had gotten so close without her noticing.

She discreetly unwrapped her Devil Bringer; she didn't have any extra wrappings after all, and stuffed the bandages in her pocket.

Her arm glowed violently, and she reached out with her phantom limb to grab a Hell Pride that was lurking in the shadows.

Jerking it back, she slammed the creature into the wall of the alley as three more showed up.

Using the demon in her grip as a weapon, she swung at the approaching demons with great force, knocking them onto the ground. She slammed her bludgeon down on top of them, killing the unfortunate Hell Pride in her grip.

If there was one good thing about her arm, it was that she was never without a weapon. Even when she had recklessly left her normal weapons at home in a fit of utter stupidity.

Quickly dispatching the three others, she turned around to face four more Hell Prides, a Hell Sloth and their leader, a Hell Greed.

"So, I guess we're having some fun tonight." Nero remarked.

The Hell Prides shrieked as they lunged forward. Nero dodged the first swipe of their scythes, wrenching one out the grip of a particularly slow Pride's grasp.

Swinging the new weapon around to get a feel for it, she destroyed the Hell Prides just as the Hell Sloth teleported in front of her.

She blocked its attack, swiftly counterattacking, and knocking it to the ground. Stabbing the end of the scythe into its chest cavity with such ferocious force that the blade shattered, she watched with great satisfaction as the both the Sloth and the Scythe dissolved into sand.

Seeing the Hell Greed gearing up to summon more demons, she hastily grabbed the demon with her Devil Bringer. The demonic limb proved to be sufficient in stopping the creature's summons.

Using all the power she could muster, she crushed the demon in her grip, watching as her last enemy faded away.

"At least I got to blow off some steam." She muttered to herself.

She re-wrapped her arm in the black bandages, thinking to herself as she did so.

'Where did these demons come from? And more importantly, what were they doing so close to the heart of the city?' Nero pondered.

"Well I'll ask Dante the next time I see him." She spoke aloud.

Then she remembered that she was currently avoiding the older hunter.

"Whenever that might be…." She finished lamely.

* * *

Meanwhile Dante was back at the shop thinking about his recent confrontation with Nero.

Clearly the younger hunter had been affected by his touch that much was obvious. But just how far would he be willing go down this path?

Nero was a good kid. She deserved to be treated right by whoever managed to crack open her hard exterior.

But was Dante willing to be that person? He cared for the kid, and he didn't want to see her get hurt, especially by his hand.

He knew he wasn't the best at these things. Matters of the heart were things he desperately tried to avoid at all costs.

It was at that moment that Trish decided to appear trough the double doors of Devil May Cry.

Noting the scattered ammo, and customized double-barreled revolver on the ground, as well as the new bullet holes in the wall near Dante's head, Trish raised one delicately curved eyebrow at her colleague.

"Trouble with Nero?" She asked.

Dante sighed deeply, mentally preparing himself for the lecture he was sure to get.

"We had a… disagreement." He answered.

"About what?" Trish questioned.

"Ah… it was nothing important." He tried to evade answering, but Trish was having none of it.

"Clearly it was important enough to Nero for her to try shooting you." She pointed out. "You do have a special ability at pissing off women, but Nero is practically immune to it by now, so you must have done something particularly annoying."

Dante sighed again, knowing he had lost this verbal battle from the start. Trish had the ability to draw out his secrets without much effort on her part. He suspected it had something to do with the fact that she looked so much like his mother. It made him want to spill every little secret he had to her.

He told her what had happened, and as he had expected, Trish began lecturing him about minding a woman's privacy, and some other such nonsense.

"Seriously Dante, what were you thinking pulling open her shirt like that?" She said angrily.

Dante did his best to appear sheepish.

"I was checking to make sure she wasn't injured." He said with a shrug.

"Still, it's not okay to be manhandling her like that." Trish countered. "So? What happened after that?"

"She ran upstairs and changed, then came back down and started shooting at my head." He deadpanned.

"I don't blame her. I'm half tempted to do the same." She muttered at him.

"But that's where the story gets weird." He began.

"What do you mean?" Trish demanded with a glare.

"Well after I shredded her new shirt with Rebellion-" Trish raised her pistol menacingly. "-On accident I swear!" Dante waved his hands in surrender. "I put her in a full body hold while she was distracted. Then when she was a little calmed, I tried to get off her, and accidentally copped a feel." This time Trish really did pull the trigger, catching the tip of Dante's ear.

"Hey! I'm not done yet!" Dante yelped indignantly.

"Continue then." Trish said with a dark glint in her eye.

Dante swallowed hard. Trish could be downright terrifying when she wanted to be.

"Anyway, this apparently caused her to…" He drifted off, looking carefully at Trish, gauging her current anger level. He felt like a guilty teenager, he really didn't feel like getting his other ear shot.

Deeming it safe enough, he continued.

"Well it caused her to become aroused." He finished carefully.

Trish stood there stupefied. She reran what he had said through her head, and came to the conclusion that she must have been imagining things.

"Come again?" She asked with a waver.

"I'm not lying, Nero was turned on by me." Dante said with a shrug.

"Are you serious?" Said Trish.

"Yes."

"Are you sure?" She questioned.

"Yes."

"You're telling me the truth right?" She interrogated.

"Oh, for the love of God… Yes!" Dante said with exasperation.

Trish was silent for a moment, her face completely unreadable.

"Are you okay over there?" Dante gently probed.

Trish suddenly began to laugh hysterically.

Dante stared, bewildered by her actions.

"Uhhhhh…" Dante voiced.

Trish continued to laugh so hard that tears formed in the corner of her eyes.

This went on for a couple minutes until Dante finally got fed up.

"What the hell is so fucking funny!" He exclaimed.

Trish finally began to calm down, and she wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes.

"I'm sorry, it's just that, well… It's about time!" Trish said happily.

"Huh?" Dante said, confused at his compatriot.

"Well it's obvious that Nero has feelings for you." Trish said matter-of-factly. "She's been broadcasting her feelings for quite a while now."

"Come again?" The Devil hunter asked.

"Look, Lady and I have both noticed it." She said bluntly. "The only ones who haven't seemed to notice are you and Nero." Trish grinned at her perplexed friend.

"I'm glad for you both. You both deserve to be happy." With these parting words, Trish left the shop, forgetting her original reason for coming there.

Dante stared into space, mystified by what had just been revealed to him.

Nero had feelings for him?

He thought back to all of their various interactions over the last few months. He couldn't see anything that would suggest she held anything more than friendship to their relationship.

But as he reviewed these memories, he began to realize that he himself appeared to be overly affectionate towards Nero.

Towards the end, he came to the conclusion that he cared for Nero. More than he should as her boss and mentor.

Even though he still called her kid, he knew that he saw her as a full-grown woman. He didn't want to admit it, but he held her close to his heart. Closer than anyone he knew, save Vergil and Eva.

He hung his head in surrender.

"Damn." He cursed under his breath.


	4. Chapter 4

Disclaimer:

I do not own any Dante, Nero, or any other characters of the Devil May Cry series. These characters are the property of Capcom. I do not garner any profit from this work of fiction, save the personal profit of self-satisfaction.

* * *

Nero continued on her walk after her fight with the demons.

Taking a look around, she realized she was near where Kyrie had gone to after she moved out. She decided to pay a visit to her best friend, and hopefully get a shower.

Hitting the intercom button for Kyrie's apartment, she waited patiently for the brown-haired woman to answer.

Thirty seconds later, the intercom picked up, and the sweet voice of Nero's childhood friend came through the speaker.

"Hello?" Kyrie asked.

"Hey Kyrie, it's me." Nero replied while holding down the button.

"Nero? What are you doing here? Do you need something?" Her friend asked worriedly.

"Yeah, umm… Dante and I had a bit of a fight, so I was hoping you could help me out a little." Nero said honestly.

"Of course!" Kyrie chirped happily. "Come on up!"

The door buzzed as it unlocked, and Nero walked into the building. She climbed the stairs and knocked on the door of apartment 4C.

Kyrie opened the door and hugged Nero tightly.

"It's great to see you!" She exclaimed.

"Whoa! Kyrie it's only been like a couple weeks since you last saw me." Nero said, confused.

"Yes, but that doesn't mean I can't miss you." Kyrie replied.

Kyrie stepped back and took a good look at Nero. She noted the matted blood in her snowy hair with distaste, and grimaced at the thought of what could have put it there.

Nero swiped at her nose when she noticed Kyrie's look of disgust, and sheepishly asked her if she could use her shower really quick.

"I just want to get this gunk out of my hair finally, then we can talk. I don't want to be flaking demon blood all over your apartment." She finished.

"It's no trouble, I'll go get you some fresh towels." Kyrie said as she walked off.

Nero headed towards where she remembered the bathroom being. Once inside she stripped off her clothes and started up the hot water.

When the water had reached a pleasing temperature, there was a gentle knock at the bathroom door.

"Nero? I brought you a couple towels and a washcloth." Came Kyrie's voice from the other side.

Nero cracked open the door just enough to reach through and take the burden from Kyrie's hands.

"Thanks." She said to the brunette through the crack.

"There's shampoo and conditioner in the shower you can use. Just don't use the dandruff shampoo. It's William's." Kyrie instructed.

"Okay, I got it. See you in a few minutes." Nero said before closing and locking the door.

Nero placed the towels on the edge of the sink, and entered the stream of water.

Quickly and thoroughly washing out her hair with Kyrie's gardenia scented products; Nero found herself thinking about Dante and their fight today.

Recalling her fight with Dante earlier that day, Nero felt the burning shame of her bodily reactions well up inside her.

Heat prickled at the corners of her eyes, and she told herself it was just the shower.

She was NOT crying.

There was no way she would be crying over _that_ asshole.

She was stronger than that.

But then she thought about his rough fingers, calloused from years of swordsmanship and battle, touching her skin. And she felt the heat well up inside her again.

Her eyes seemed to burn harder at that.

She refused to allow her body to act this way, and quickly swapped the hot water of the showerhead out for cold.

After a few seconds she turned the water off completely and stepped out.

Towel drying her hair, and wrapping herself up with another, she wiped the condensation off the bathroom mirror.

She checked to make sure all the blood was out of her hair, and glared fiercely at herself when she noticed the moistness of her eyes.

Getting redressed quickly, she exited the bathroom and made her way to the living room.

There she saw Kyrie setting down a tray laden with tea onto the coffee table.

Flopping onto the couch, Nero stared at her friend and waited for her to begin asking questions.

After several minutes of silence between them, save the clinking of Kyrie's mug on the table, Nero finally gave into the quiet.

"Aren't you going to ask me?" She said in an uncharacteristically small voice.

"About what?" Kyrie replied calmly.

"About the fight I had with Dante." Nero stated plainly. "Don't you want to know about it? And about the blood in my hair? I noticed you staring when I came in."

"I know how the blood came to be in your hair." Kyrie said with her eyes closed. "It got there when you were fighting demons right? I don't need to know the specifics. I know what your job is, and to be honest I do worry about you."

She opened her eyes and looked straight into Nero's.

"However, I believe in you and trust you to keep yourself safe." She said with an unwavering voice.

Nero felt a sudden wave of happiness at her friend's words. She found herself smiling shyly while scratching at her nose, her heart swelling with pride.

"As for your fight with Dante, I figured that if you wanted to talk about it, you would." Kyrie said as she leaned back into her seat.

"Thank you Kyrie." Nero said with genuine relief. "You're a great friend, you know that?"

Kyrie just smiled at her.

* * *

Dante had been staring at the wall across from his desk for the past thirty minutes. He hadn't moved since Trish had left his shop, and for the entirety of that half hour, Dante had been thinking about Nero.

He thought about how they had met, back in Fortuna, during the incident with The Savior.

He recalled how he took an almost immediate liking to the kid. She was independent, cocky, and feisty as hell.

She reminded him of himself in some ways.

He shook himself from his thoughts and got up from his seat. He walked over to Blue Rose, which was still lying on the floor, and picked up the gun.

Turning it over in his hands, he examined the engravings Nero had put into the metal.

A blue rose, an impossibility, something that does not naturally exist in nature.

Nero had built this gun by herself, with no one to help her, and only a few scattered tomes on firearms to base her design off of.

In a society that disapproved of using any other weapon besides the sword, she had gone against the grain. She had resisted their teachings, and she was the better for it.

He placed Blue Rose back on its proper rack, and stepped back.

Looking fondly at Nero's weapons, he finally came to decision about how to deal with his situation.

He would wait for Nero to make the first move.

Nero was a smart kid, and she was old enough to make her own decisions. She deserved to be absolutely sure about moving forward.

Dante turned around, picked up the extra ammo scattered on the floor, and placed it on his desk.

With nothing left to do, he decided he was hungry, and picked up the phone to dial his favorite pizza place.

"Carducci Pizza, how may I help you?" Came the bored, monotone voice on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, I'd like to place an order for delivery." Said Dante.

* * *

Nero was lying down on Kyrie's couch watching television when she heard the lock on the door unlatch.

She watched as William walked through the door, not even noticing her right there on the couch.

He put down his briefcase, closed and locked the door behind him, and hung up his coat on the coat rack.

When he turned around, he finally noticed the silver haired woman on his couch, and jumped in fright.

"Oh! Nero! Goodness you gave me a fright." He said while massaging his chest in an attempt to soothe his startled heart.

"Hey William. Classes over?" Nero said in reply, not really caring about startling him. He may be Kyrie's fiancée, but she only put up with him since he made the woman so happy.

"Yes. I'm done for the day, and I don't have any classes scheduled for tomorrow, so Kyrie and I are planning on going out." William said as he made his way to the kitchen, where Kyrie was preparing dinner.

Nero lost interest, and turned back to the TV.

William slid up behind Kyrie and wrapped his arms around her waist while placing a chaste kiss her neck.

"Welcome home William." Kyrie said without loosing focus on the steaks she was trimming of fat.

"Hello love." He said with love shining in his eyes.

"Nero is joining us for dinner tonight." Kyrie said while slipping out of his grasp, to the sink, where she washed her hands.

"That sounds fine. I'm glad you got to see her, I know how much you miss her since we moved in together." William said with a gentle smile on his face.

Kyrie smiled back at him, and wrapped her arms around his neck to pull him down for a quick kiss.

"Have I said I love you lately?" She whispered to him.

* * *

Nero tired to ignore the sounds of ongoing affection coming from the kitchen. Turning up the volume on the TV, she hoped the din of pirates clashing swords would prevent the heaping amounts of awkward she was starting to feel.

Throwing all of her focus into the images displayed on the electronic screen, Nero let time pass her by without regard as she lay there.

This was how Kyrie found her about an hour later.

Gently shaking her friend's shoulder, she watched as Nero's consciousness resurfaced from the mind-numbing effects of the television set.

"Dinner's ready Nero." She said with a small smile.

"Okay, Let me go wash my hands and I'll be right there." Nero said as she stood up and turned off the speeding car chase.

After doing just that, Nero entered the dining room and sat at the table.

Kyrie came in with two plates, while William followed behind with the final plate and a basket of bread.

They set down the plates and took their seats.

Nero fidgeted awkwardly as Kyrie said a small prayer of thanks, then immediately tucked into her steak.

"So Nero, how's work been going for you?" William inquired of his guest, attempting to make conversation with the woman who soon would basically be equivalent to a sister-in-law.

"Fine." Nero answered curtly as she continued to eat.

"And your boyfriend? Dante, was it? How is he?" He asked as he cut his steak.

Nero choked on her food, and wheezed as she struggled to bring air to her lungs.

"Nero? Are you all right?" Kyrie questioned as her friend fought with the food lodged in her windpipe.

"Dante is NOT my boyfriend." Nero rasped as she reached for her drink, attempting wash down the offending food item.

After chugging the entire glass, Nero faced William and looked him in the eye.

"Dante is my boss. Nothing more. In fact most of the time I hate the man's guts, and want nothing more than to punch him right in the face." Nero said with a serious tone.

Nero glared at empty space as she thought of the aggravating man. She really did hate his guts at times, but she knew deep down, she was glad she had met him.

He had helped her save Kyrie, the woman who had been like a sister to her since she was a child at the orphanage. Without his help, she knew she would have failed to rescue her, and both she and Kyrie would have been absorbed completely by the False Savior.

She would never admit any of this in front of him though. The man already had a big enough ego, no reason to go adding to it.

"Nero?" Kyrie's voice interrupted Nero's thoughts about Dante.

Nero shook her head to clear it, and stood up from the table.

She decided it was time to leave.

"Sorry Kyrie, I gotta go." She said as she left the room.

"Wait! Nero!" Kyrie called after her as she moved to follow her.

Nero went to the door and grabbed her coat that was hanging from the rack.

"Nero!" Cried Kyrie as she attempted to stop her friend from rushing off.

"Kyrie. I'm sorry I couldn't stay. It's just I don't like it when other people try to pry into my private life." Nero said as she looked to her best friend.

Kyrie looked at her with an apology watering in her eyes.

"Don't apologize Kyrie. It's not your fault. You know how I can get a bit hotheaded at times." Nero said as she maneuvered the girl into a hug.

"I'll see you soon. Don't be angry with William. This was my decision to leave." She said softly.

For all her bravado, Nero truly loved Kyrie, and she wanted her to be happy. She couldn't let her temper tear a rift between Kyrie and William.

"Bye." She said as she went out the door.

* * *

 **I'm looking for a Beta reader if anyone is interested.**


	5. Chapter 5

Disclaimer:

I do not own any Dante, Nero, or any other characters of the Devil May Cry series. These characters are the property of Capcom. I do not garner any profit from this work of fiction, save the personal profit of self-satisfaction.

* * *

Detective Jacob Sullivan sat at his desk in Capulet city's 9th precinct.

He was going over the case files for a series of homicides he had been investigating for the past week.

The latest was a woman who had been murdered in an alleyway, her body mutilated beyond recognition. As of two hours ago, she had finally been identified as 23-year-old Serena Derain through dental records.

The perpetrator had used some sort of razor sharp blade large enough to slice through the majority of the woman's torso, and chunks of her flesh had been torn off in a way that looked like some sort of large animal had taken a bite out of her. Those pieces of her were still missing.

The entire precinct was befuddled as to who, or what, could have killed her, as well as the three other people who were killed in a similar manner over the last 2 months.

Jacob's partner, Nathan Rennes, walked up to the elder detective's desk with a grim look on his face.

Nathan was a 32-year-old man with a head of curly blonde locks and blue eyes. He had been on the force for 9 years, and had been Jacob's partner since he made detective, 3 years ago.

"There's been another one." He stated plainly.

"Alright, let's go." Jacob said as he swept a hand through his dark brown hair.

* * *

Arriving on the scene, the partners were subjugated to the grizzly sight of a young man, who was torn to pieces exactly like Serena Derain.

"Any ID on this one?" Jacob asked one of the uniformed officers on the scene.

The officer shook his head solemnly.

"The only thing found on him was this business card in his pocket." The officer said as he held out an evidence bag.

Jacob took the bag and read the slightly bloodied card.

"Devil May Cry? What kinda name is that?" He said bewildered.

"I have no idea." Nathan said, shaking his head.

"Well, in any case we should check the place out and find out if they can identify this poor sap." Jacob said as he handed the card to his partner.

As Nathan pulled out his smart phone and looked up the address printed on the card, Jacob wandered over to the body.

He noted that the man's face was still intact, which was a great thing; it would make it much easier to identify him. Again, it appeared the body had been sliced nearly in two, and it appeared this one's heart had been torn right out of his chest cavity. One of the victim's legs had been torn off as well.

"Was the leg found anywhere on the scene?" He asked the officer he had spoken to earlier.

"No. The crime scene unit looked around, but was unable to locate it." The man answered.

"Has the medical examiner given a time of death yet?" Jacob asked while pondering why the killer had taken an entire leg this time.

"Yeah, they said he died around 7 or 8 this morning." The officer answered.

"And no one saw or heard anything?" He mused to himself in disbelief.

The neighborhood they were currently in wasn't known for being dangerous, and the residents of the area generally cooperated with the police during investigations. So it was unusual that no witnesses had come forward. He thought that maybe this was actually a body dump, but the presence of gore splattering the walls around the body shot that theory down.

Nathan tapped him on the shoulder, jostling him from his thoughts.

"Hey I got the address for that place." Nathan said while nodding over his shoulder.

Jacob nodded and followed his partner to their car.

"So where exactly are we going?" Jacob asked as they stepped into the car.

"To a little shit hole about 10 miles from here." His partner said as he buckled up.

Jacob did the same and started the car up. They took off down the road and Nathan directed Jacob as to where to go. After about 20 minutes, they finally arrived at their destination. They parked and got out of the car. They still had to walk a bit because the shop they were headed to was located down a few alleyways.

"Good god, why is this place so fucking far from the main road?" Nathan moaned after 5 minutes of walking.

"It's probably not a normal business, with a name like Devil May Cry." Jacob answered his annoyed friend.

"What, like some kind of brothel or escort service or something?" Nathan grumbled out.

"Maybe. Who knows?" Jacob said with a shrug.

Later, after about five more minutes of walking, they finally reached their destination. Which was lucky since it seemed the sky was about to let loose a torrent of rain.

The shop was a desolate looking building with a large neon sign over its' door. The sign was large with letters in a sharp cursive font, and the silhouette of a woman toting two guns.

"I guess this is it." Nathan said as they approached the doors.

There was no sign indicating whether or not the shop was open, so Jacob knocked on the door loudly.

"Come on in. We're open." Came a muffled voice from the other side of the door.

Entering the shop they were greeted by the sight of a large number of rather deadly looking weapons adorning the walls.

Sitting at a desk on the other side of the room, sat a man with silver hair and blue eyes. He was reading a magazine and had his feet propped up on the desk. The two detectives looked around, taking in the numerous amounts of weapons on the walls. Each one was unique, and all of them looked very lethal.

"Can I help you two?" The man asked with a bored voice.

"My name is Jacob Sullivan, and this is my partner Nathan Rennes. We're detectives for the Capulet City Police Department. We're investigating a homicide and one of your business cards turned up on one of our murder victims." Jacob told the man.

"And this concerns me because…?" The man drawled.

"We were hoping you could identify the victim for us." Nathan said.

"I dunno if we can help you, we mostly deal with our customers over the phone." He said as he shrugged his shoulders.

" _We_? Exactly how many is _we?_ " Jacob questioned. "On another note, what kind of shop is this?"

"We deal with… _exterminations_ … of a _large_ variety. We, being myself and my two other staff." The man said while straightening himself out in the chair.

Jacob noticed the two large handguns sitting near the edge of his desk.

"And you need all these huge weapons to deal with these, _exterminations_ , do you?" Nathan said as he gazed critically at a silver broadsword on the wall. "Do you even have all the permits for all these weapons?"

With that statement, the air in the room became stagnant and tense. The three men were at a standoff, and it seemed as if the situation could become explosive. One wrong move, and things could get ugly.

* * *

Nero headed back to the shop. There was no reason for her to avoid the main roads now, so she made it back much quicker than she had left.

As angry as she had been at the elder hunter, she had since cooled off her boiling fury down to a light simmer. And when the weather suddenly began pouring rain, drenching her completely in seconds, her anger was entirely forgotten.

She ran towards the front entrance of the shop, not even bothering to try and re-enter through her window.

"Is the universe just determined to fucking screw with me today?" She lamented as she finally reached the door.

* * *

The three males in the Devil May Cry shop had been staring at each other for about 5 minutes straight.

Dante knew that the two detectives were ready to pull their guns on him. He was intimidating them without even trying. Of course all the weapons on the walls probably didn't help, but at least he had moved all his more ' _macabre_ ' trophies to the basement. He didn't want to scare off the customers who were actually human with the severed heads of demons he had killed.

Plus Trish and Lady had forced him to do it after the tenth time a customer dropped him due to his tastes.

He moved slowly, so as to not spook the unnerved officers, and stood from his seat.

An unwise move it seemed, as his daunting height only served to make them more alarmed.

At that moment, Nero crashed through the doors of Devil May Cry, soaked to the bone in rainwater.

"Fucking hell Dante, it's coming down in god damn buckets out there." She practically shouted as she slammed the door behind her with her foot.

"Get me a damn towel, would ya?" She said as she rubbed the water out of her eyes with her still bandaged arm.

As she looked up, she finally noticed the two strangers in the room.

"Who the fuck are these guys?" She said as she narrowed her frosty eyes into a glare.

Dante stepped out from behind his desk and made his way over to Nero after grabbing his coat from the back of his chair.

As he approached, Nero suddenly became wary of his expression. He was staring at her, and for some reason, his gaze seemed unnaturally heated. She couldn't pinpoint why he was scrutinizing her, and that made her nervous.

Not only was Dante staring at her intently, but the two strangers were as well. It made her extremely uneasy, and she backed up into the door.

"What the hell are you all staring at?" She asked as Dante continued to approach her.

The blonde stranger was staring with wide eyes, while the dark-haired one was attempting to keep his eyes from straying from her face.

When Dante finally reached her, he placed his jacket on her shoulders, backwards, so that it covered her front.

"You do realize that your shirt is _white_ , right?" Dante said as he grinned at her. "Let's not go flashing our guests your bra." He winked at her as he stepped back.

Nero's cheeks burned as blood rushed to her face. Her lips turned down into a scowl, and her eyes thundered murderously.

"Godamnit! This is all your fault Dante!" Nero yelled, exasperated. "If you hadn't sent me on that job this morning, none of this would have happened!"

She shoved Dante out of her path as she stomped her way over to the stairs, making sure that each footfall was as loud as she could possibly make them.

Grumbling to herself as she went up the stairs, Nero refused to acknowledge anything that was going on. She didn't care that there were two, still unidentified men in the lobby.

All she cared about was getting upstairs to her room, where she could fume over her absolutely dismal luck for the day.

Dante watched Nero head up the stairs, staring at the back of her head intently.

He turned back to his two guests; it was time for these guys to go.

"As much fun as all this has been, I don't think we'll be able to help you with your case." Dante said as he made his way back over to the two.

"I'll let you stay until the rain clears up a bit, but after that, I'm gonna need you to leave." He stared straight into Jacob's face, and made it clear with his posture that he was entirely serious about this.

* * *

Nero was fed up with this day.

Her day had started out lousy, as Dante had pushed her out the door at 6, so she barely had a chance to eat breakfast. He didn't want to do the job that had come to them because it seemed too simple for him. Trish had been out, and he wouldn't have been able to get her to do it any way. So he dumped the job on her.

The job had been simple enough, but getting to the warehouse that had been overrun was a bit of pain. Since she didn't have transportation, she had been forced to walk.

It took her tree hours to get there.

She finished the job within half an hour, only getting hit once.

Of course that one hit had cost her shirt, and her hooded vest, exposing her bra to the world.

She had trudged the long three-hour walk back, clutching the remains of her hoodie together, and then she was nearly molested by Dante.

Twice!

And she lost another shirt in the process.

Then she got in that fight with the Hell Greed, and had problems with Kyrie, and top off her miserable day, she ended up in the pouring rain, the one time she was wearing a white shirt.

So she ended up flashing Dante her bra again, along with two complete strangers.

Nero swiped a towel from the bathroom, and marched to her own room.

Slamming the door behind her, she dropped Dante's leather coat on the floor, and proceeded to strip down to her underwear.

Using the towel, she dried her hair and body as best she could.

Thunder crashed in the sky, which mirrored Nero's foul mood. A _thunk_ resounded in her room, and Nero looked up, searching for the source.

When she found it, her aggravation was set ablaze again.

Of course she had forgotten to close her window when she had left. Now the floor around her window was sopping wet, and a large part of her bed was soaked. She crossed the room swiftly and slammed the window shut, thankfully not cracking the glass in her rage. She practically ripped down the blinds, which had been banging around in the wind.

Her bare feet squished the wet rug underneath her, and she sighed.

All she wanted to do right now was curl up in her bed, under her warm comforter, and sleep until this horrible day was over.

But now her bed was wet from the rain, and there was no way to change that.

There was only one option left.

She didn't want to, but at the same time she had to.

* * *

Sorry this took so long.

I was... _distracted_.

My 23rd birthday was last Wednesday.

Sooo... Yeah. _Distracted_.

Also, I don't usually do this because I secretly find it pitiful but...

Please review~ It really makes me happy. And a happy writer means faster typing.


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